1873
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
A Fisherman's Daughter is a 1873 by Winslow Homer, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Three girls sit on a sunny beach, playing with a lobster while waves lap nearby. Their dresses are simple, their faces quiet. Homer painted this in Gloucester, a fishing town where men often vanished at sea. The girls’ calm feels heavy—maybe they’re waiting for fathers who might not come home. It’s one of his first watercolors, but you’d never guess; the light looks effortless. To see how he turned water and paper into sunlight, look up Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910).
Homer created some of the most luminous and influential watercolors in the history of the medium. A Fisherman’s Daughter, painted in Gloucester, Massachusetts, is among a group of works that represent his first sustained use of the medium. Here, three girls sit on the shore of a sunlit beach and play with a lobster. Their downcast eyes suggest a solemn tranquility to their activity. The life of the local fishermen was perilous; they often spent weeks away from home and were sometimes lost at sea. Thus, waiting was a central part of life for Gloucester families. An overturned boat on the dunes…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects.
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